Senhora do Destino (English: Lady of the Destiny) is a Brazilian telenovela that was produced and aired by Rede Globo from June 28, 2004, to March 11, 2005, with a total of 221 episodes. Replacing Celebridade and being replaced by América. Written by Aguinaldo Silva with the collaboration of Filipe Miguez, Gloria Barreto, Maria Elisa Berredo, and Nelson Nadotti. Directed by Luciano Sabino, Marco Rodrigo, Claudio Boeckel, with general and core direction of Wolf Maya. Nazaré Tedesco, Renata Sorrah's character, is the great villain of the plot and entered the history of Brazilian television drama as one of the best-known and cruel villains of Brazilian soap operas.
Featured Suzana Vieira, José Wilker, Carolina Dieckmann, Eduardo Moscovis, Letícia Spiller, José Mayer, Leonardo Vieira, Débora Falabella, Marcello Antony, Dan Stulbach, Tania Khalill, Carol Castro, Dado Dolabella, Marília Gabriela, José de Abreu, Leandra Leal and Renata Sorrah in leading roles.
Production The telenovela had the provisional title of Dinastia. But one businessman registered the mark before, and two months before its debut had its name changed to Senhora do Destino. Carolina Dieckmann and Adriana Esteves participated in the first phase, playing the characters Maria do Carmo and Nazaré Tedesco respectively. The first recordings started in May 2004. Dieckmann returned to the second phase of history to play Maria do Carmo's stolen daughter. Along with her, actress Renata Sorrah also appeared in the telenovela. Their first scenes in the second phase aired on the July 24, 2004, episode.
The telenovela had a first phase of four episodes showing the theme of the military dictatorship in Brazil. After that, the story takes place in a fictional time, which has characteristics of the early 1990s and the 2000s, as stated by the author. This has given rise to several criticisms, since, due to the age of Maria do Carmo's children (who appear to be between 30 and 35 years old), it is assumed that the story was about 25 years after AI-5 (between 1993 and 1994) and current cars were shown, the real as currency, adopted only in 1994, and merchandising of non-existent products at that time. The first phase of the plot lasted only the first two episodes. From the third episode, aired on June 30, 2004, the second phase begins.
Casting Originally Regina Duarte was invited to play the protagonist Maria do Carmo, but the actress imposed as a condition that her daughter, Gabriela Duarte, should play Lindalva, which was not accepted by the board, since Carolina Dieckmann was already confirmed on the role, causing Duarte to refuse the character as a protest. The actress reversed the decision days later and contacted the board to accept the role, but Susana Vieira had already been confirmed in her place. Vieira was scheduled to play Nazaré, but with the problem with Duarte, was eventually moved to the role of Maria do Carmo, while Renata Sorrah was invited to play the antagonist at the request of Vieira herself who was her personal friend. Raul Cortez was going to play Colonel Justino in Cabocla, but gave up the character to accept the role of Barão de Bonsucesso at Aguinaldo Silva's request. The director thought of removing Marcello Antony from the cast when the actor was arrested for drug possession in April 2004, before starting the telenovela recordings, but decided to keep him.
Bárbara Borges was reserved for the telenovela when she was still in Malhação at the request of the author himself, who had already been pleased with her work in his telenovela Porto dos Milagres. Miriam Pires died on September 7, 2004, of toxoplasmosis after recording 62 episodes, but her character was not killed in the telenovela, having been established that she had been injured and needed to rest, but several characters were visiting her to continue the story.
Transmission In Brazil, the programme was broadcast again at Vale a Pena Ver de Novo from March 2 to August 21, 2009, in 123 episodes, replacing Mulheres Apaixonadas and being replaced by Alma Gêmea. During the screening of this rerun, episode 92, which was to air on July 7, 2009, did not air due to the broadcast of Michael Jackson's funeral. The episode 117, which would be aired on August 12, 2009, also did not air, due to the transmission of the friendly between Brazil and Estonia. It was re-aired from March 13 to December 8, 2017, in 195 episodes, replacing Cheias de Charme and being replaced by Celebridade (its original predecessor), making it the longest rerun of the track. Senhora do Destino has already been sold to 36 countries.
Opening The opening of the telenovela and the song "Encontros e Despedidas" (composed by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant, performed by Maria Rita), showing photos of people, with color photos of the telenovela actors, while the black and white photos were of anonymous.
Plot The plot is divided into two phases. The first –aired in four chapters – takes place in December 1968, telling the story of three women: Josefa de Medeiros Duarte Pinto (Marília Gabriela), a journalist for the Diário de Notícias, a stunning and brave woman who becomes a mortal enemy of the dictatorship; Maria do Carmo Ferreira da Silva (Carolina Dieckmann), a humble northeastern woman who comes to the city of Rio de Janeiro in search of a better life for herself and her children; and Maria de Nazaré Esteves Tedesco (Adriana Esteves), a prostitute who wants to change her life at all costs and will play dirty for it.
First phase
Maria do Carmo, a suffering Northeastern woman, abandoned by her husband Josivaldo, leaves with her five children from Belém de São Francisco, in the Pernambuco hinterland, to Rio de Janeiro. She is desperate to see a better future for her children because she lives in extreme poverty. Therefore, she writes to her brother, Sebastião, asking him to receive them in his house. Sebastião works as a driver for Josefa de Medeiros Duarte Pinto, with whom he is secretly in love. She is the daughter of a traditional family and owner of the Rio de Janeiro newspaper Diário de Notícias, inherited after the death of her second husband. After a series of setbacks on the trip, Maria do Carmo and her children arrive in Rio de Janeiro on December 13, 1968, the very day of the decree of Institutional Act Number Five (AI-5). There is a great commotion in the streets of the City Center, taken over by protesters and riot police.
The Diário de Notícias, an opponent of the military regime, is invaded by the police, and Sebastião cannot fetch Maria do Carmo from the bus station. Since she lost her paper on the road where she had written her brother's address, she goes with her children looking for the newspaper, where she expects to find Sebastião. Maria do Carmo manages to take refuge with the children in an abandoned house. Nazaré, a prostitute from Madame Berthe's brothel, is also housed there. She wants to marry her lover José Carlos and change her life. So she pretends to be a nurse and to be pregnant because she believes that pregnancy is the only way to separate him from his wife and daughter. As she became sterile after 5 successive miscarriages, she invented that she was pregnant to force Jose Carlos to take over the child. In the abandoned place, Nazaré tells Maria do Carmo that her name is Lourdes and promises to take care of the children while Maria do Carmo takes Reginaldo, who had been injured, to the hospital. Being alone with the youngest, two-month-old Lindalva in her arms, Nazaré glimpses the chance to realize her plan and kidnap the girl. She decides to pretend to have given birth to the child, sensitizing her lover, who leaves his wife and daughter to be with her. Maria do Carmo's struggle to recover her stolen daughter is the guiding thread of the plot.
Desolate with the kidnapping of Lindalva, Maria do Carmo is lost in the streets of Rio. She is mistaken for a protester and arrested, along with two other men in particular: Dirceu de Castro, a reporter for the Diário de Notícias, who refuses to leave the newsroom of the newspaper, and Giovanni Improtta, a well-known gambler full of scams and shady activities in his life. Josefa is also arrested, has her newspaper closed, and is advised to leave the country, which takes her to a luxurious exile in Paris. Maria do Carmo, Dirceu and Giovanni are in neighboring cells in a prison, and the journalist hears the story of the Northeastern woman. Dirceu draws the attention of the prison commander, the wicked Commander Saraiva, to the mistaken identity, and the young woman is released. She encounters Sebastian by chance, and the two manage to prevent the children of Maria do Carmo, who had been taken to the Juvenile Court, from being sent to an orphanage. Maria do Carmo decides to settle in the same place where her brother lives, in Vila São Miguel, fictitious district of Duque de Caxias, in the Baixada Fluminense, and swears that she will dedicate her life to locate her daughter Lindalva.
Second phase
The years pass, and Maria do Carmo is a strong and successful woman, dedicated mother, owner of the Do Carmo building supply store, dear and respected in Vila São Miguel for her ethics and generosity. She still suffers because she never heard from Lindalva again, and no one has found the whereabouts of the kidnapper who she thinks is named Lourdes. She has an old romantic relationship with Dirceu, now editor and political columnist for a major Rio newspaper. The two live in separate houses and live a quiet relationship. But the northeastern woman has another admirer: the now former bicheiro Giovanni Improtta, who honestly liquidated all his past accounts and earns his living as president of the Vila Sao Miguel United samba school and disputes with Dirceu the love of Maria do Carmo. One of his characteristics is his inseparable bow tie, as well as the effort to speak correctly, which causes him to make several Portuguese grammar mistakes. His way of speaking fell in the favor of the public, who reproduced on the streets expressions such as “felomenal” (instead of “phenomenal”). Among the phrases popularized by the character are: "There are suitcases that come by train!"; "I'm going to lolly myself"; "Do not forget my motto: with Giovanni Improtta no problem"; "Then there is the saying by the unspoken, the unspoken by the said and, as always, the writing is worthwhile"; "Here you do, here you pay"; "In life, as in the restaurant, the bill always comes"; "Istrastegic output"; "The cow will fly!", "Time is roaring, and Sapucai is big!", "Giovanni Improtta, in charm and bone."
Giovanni is the father of João Manoel and Jenifer. A widower, he lives with his children and his mother-in-law, Flaviana. His girlfriend is the aspiring celebrity Danielle, whom he calls "Baby Nymph" (and he is called "Daddy"). But the former bicheiro, who keeps repeating his debt to the police or tax authorities, is in love even with Do Carmo, having to vie for his love with rival Dirceu, whom he calls "letter exchange."
Sebastião, Maria do Carmo's brother, married Janice and has three children: Eleonora, Venâncio and Regininha; He is the driver of the refined Pedro Correia de Andrade and Couto, Baron de Bonsucesso, and his wife, Baroness Laura - a happy couple who enjoy celebrating life, although they no longer have the same financial situation as before. The baron's money is managed by his son, Leonardo, who complains about his father's eccentric spending. After meeting Giovanni Improtta, the baron agrees to be his personal stylist and teaches the former boss, who addresses Laura as Dona Baroa, ensuring many comic moments in history. In the course of the plot, the baroness finds herself suffering from Alzheimer's.